Carol Wintermute (moderator), Dr. Judith D. Wallach and Dr. Howard Radest
Summary: We’ll begin with the story of The Ethical Community Charter School, the idea of creating public schools whose purpose is teaching ethics, community service, and integrating these throughout the curriculum and life of the school community. TECCS TEACHES a diverse student body the knowledge, ability and commitment to do ethics and do it well as students grow and learn. We will revisit the progressive tradition, the idea of building model schools that will create and test curricula, educate teachers and families as well as children, and encourage others to join in this adventure. We will share our experience thus far with two schools each now in their 4th year and serving nearly 500 students. Our aims: to inform fellow humanists and others of an exciting and relevant educational adventure; encourage others to consider joining in the adventure in their own communities; and PARTICIPATE IN A dialogue so that we ALL can benefit from your insights, questions and concerns.
Carol Wintermute (moderator): Carol Wintermute’s received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Denison University in Ohio. Her graduate studies in family social science were done at the University of Minnesota where she received MA and Ph.D. degrees. She also did post-graduate work in psychology at the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of the Humanist Institute. Her passions are philosophy, psychology, art and literature. Over the years, she has been a visual aids librarian at the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian, teacher of human sexuality courses, coordinator of an early childhood program for a school system, and instructor in family social science at the University of Minnesota, a branch manager of the Red Cross, director of religious education at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, executive director of the International Association of Humanist Educators, Counselors and Leaders, president of the Humanist Institute, and now the co-dean of the Institute.
Dr. Judith D. Wallach: Dr. Wallach has served on the Boards of the American Ethical Union, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, and the Humanist Institute. She has been a member of the NY Society for Ethical Culture for 35 years and served as chair of its Social Service Board and president of its Board of Trustees. Her long-held vision of providing a first-class education to underserved families based on ethics, social justice, and community service has been realized in The Ethical Community Charter Schools in Jersey City and the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Dr. Wallach was founding chair of the Brooklyn school and is president of TECCS Foundation. In her professional life, Dr. Wallach is a clinical psychologist in private practice.
Dr. Howard B. Radest: Dr. Radest is dean emeritus of The Humanist Institute and is on the advisory committee of the Kochhar Humanist Education Center. He was leader of Bergen Ethical Culture Society, executive director of the American Ethical Union, co-chair of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and director [headmaster] of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. He was a founder of The Association for Moral Education and is a former board chair of the Ethical Community Charter School in New Jersey. He is listed in Who’s Who and Who’s Who in Education. His books include: Toward Common Ground (1968), Can We Teach Ethics? (1989), The Devil and Secular Humanism (1990), Humanism with a Human Face (1996), Felix Adler: An Ethical Culture (1998), From Clinic to Classroom–Medical Ethics and Moral Education (2000), Ethics and Public Health in a Time of Terror (2006), Bioethics: Catastrophes in a Time of Terror (2009).
David Rosas: David R. Rosas is an educator and native New Yorker. He is the assistant principal at The Ethical Community Charter School in Brooklyn, NY. He has taught several grades from Kindergarten to 7th grade for 12 years in urban public and private schools. He has earned a B.S. in Human Development and Latino Studies at Cornell University, an M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction at Arizona State University, and a second M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. He is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Urban Education the CUNY Graduate Center.
Nicole Osei: Nicole Osei has a B.A. in English at Barnard College, and M.S.W. in Social Work from Columbia University. She was a team leader/teacher with Teach for America in Baltimore, MD. She did an internship at the Harlem Hospital Center in New York, and another as a school counselor at Partnership with Children in New York City. A MSW, she served as clinical supervisor at Wedico Children’s Services in Windsor, New Hampshire.
Geoffrey Renaud: A New Jersey native, Geoffrey studied at Penn State University (B.S. in English Education) and The New Actors Workshop in New York City. His work as a K-4 ethics teacher is influenced by Spolin Theater Games, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation’s anti-bullying and conflict resolution programs, and the work of Elizabeth Baird Saenger, who used children’s literature to teach ethics at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in Fieldston, NY. He now lives in Hoboken, NJ with his wife and son.